Are Pesticides In Gerber’s Baby Food?

Summary

In 1995, the Environmental Working Group discovered pesticides in Gerber baby food products. In 2017, Food Revolution Network followed up to see if pesticides were still present in Gerber’s non-organic baby food or if Gerber had cleaned up their supply chain. The results may surprise you. They certainly surprised me.

Rabindranath Tagore once said, “Every child that is born is proof that God has not yet given up on human beings.”

However cynical we may become, most of us feel a special soft spot in our hearts for the next generation.

So in 1995, when the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found dangerous pesticides in baby foods, many people were deeply alarmed.

The non-profit organization tested eight baby foods made by the three largest baby food companies in the U.S. at the time: Gerber, Heinz, and Beech-Nut.

To be sure of the results, we arranged for testing of two samples of each product by FSNS. A batch came from a store in Kansas, and another batch came from a store in Michigan. We also asked FSNS to test each sample twice.

Throughout the 16 tests FSNS conducted, the lab did not find any detectable levels of pesticides in any of the Gerber baby food products.

This is great news for everyone who wants to keep babies safe.

What Happened?

The 1995 EWG report worried the folks at Gerber — along with Heinz and Beech-Nut. The report quickly became a national news story. And despite the brands’ reassurances that their products were completely safe, they knew they would face consumer backlash.

Environmental Working Group founder Ken Cook told me that Gerber “…revised their contracts with farmers to reduce residues to super low levels.”

Gerber representatives recently told me that they continue to work closely with their farmers to improve their supply chain, testing, and internal processes.

Clearly and happily, Gerber didn’t just treat the issue as merely a PR problem.

In fact, Gerber decided to make a major investment in organic baby food. By 1997, the brand had launched Tender Harvest organic baby food. And over the years since, Gerber has continued to grow its organic offerings, which now include many dozens of products.

As CEO of Food Revolution Network, I’m often in the position of calling the industrialized food industry out for producing products laced with chemicals, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics — not to mention sugar and processed junk. And when we initiated these tests, I fully expected to find pesticide contamination in Gerber products.

But that’s not what happened. And I think that when a company makes progress or does the right thing, they deserve some appreciation.

This doesn’t mean that Gerber’s baby food is the ideal food for babies. Home-made baby foods are often superior to any purchased product.

Plus, a 2018 Consumer Reports study found “troublesome” levels of heavy metals in every one of 50 baby foods sampled, including Gerber baby food.

There are so many things that are wrong with the industrialized food industry. But fortunately, there are also some signs of hope.

Gerber appears to have cleaned up its supply chain to at least get pesticide residues out of its non-organic products. Gerber also has more than 150 products that are certified non-GMO, and it’s put heavy promotion behind a suite of more than 60 organic products.

This is one reason the entire organic baby food sector is growing rapidly and is expected to double between now and 2025.

If you feel that Gerber is taking steps in the right direction, I invite you to head over to the Gerber Facebook page and leave them a positive comment. And if you want to support EWG’s work, you can make a donation here.

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